Watonwan County FSA Updates

DEAR PRODUCERS: Welcome to the new Gov Delivery bulletins and updates service from your County FSA office. Note that you are welcome to request to receive bulletins from more than one county and can add or remove individual subscriptions at any time. Watonwan County

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St. James Plaindealer - St. James, MN

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Posted Dec. 28, 2012 at 8:00 AM

Posted Dec. 28, 2012 at 8:00 AM

St. James Plaindealer

DEAR PRODUCERS: Welcome to the new Gov Delivery bulletins and updates service from your County FSA office. Note that you are welcome to request to receive bulletins from more than one county and can add or remove individual subscriptions at any time.

Watonwan County

FSA Office

823 1st Ave S, Suite 1

Saint James, MN 56081-2163

Office Hours:

Monday - Friday

8:00 AM - 4:30 PM

Phone: 507-375-3191

Fax: 507-375-3193

County Executive Director:

Linda Stuckenbroker

Program Technicians:

Teresa Holmquist

Kris Fast

Trish Nelson

Travis Elg

Field Assistant:

Bruce Schultz

County Committee:

Brad Lunz, Chair

Dan Steinle, Vice-Chair

Larry Dannen, Member

Nancy Romsdahl, Minority Advisor

IRS 1099-G Reporting Changes:

Calendar year 2012 has brought changes to the way FSA reports farm program payments to the producer and to the IRS.

In past years, IRS Forms 1099-G would be issued to show all program payments received from the Farm Service Agency, regardless of the amount.

Starting with calendar year 2012:

Producers whose total reportable payments from FSA are less than $600 will not receive IRS Form 1099-G

Producers who receive payments from more than one county will only receive one Form 1099-G if the total of all payments from all counties is $600 or more

Producers receiving less than $600 in combined payments need to consult a tax advisor to determine if these payments must be reported on their tax return.

County Committee Election Results - LAA2:

On December 6, the ballots cast in the County Committee Election for Local Administrative Area Two (LAA2) were counted. Eighty ballots were returned for this election. Thank you to all who took the time to vote.

The candidate who received the most votes and will serve as the County Committee member is Brad Lunz of Butterfield. This will be Brad's third and final term on the Watonwan County FSA Committee.

Five producers received write-in votes in the election. Alan Brudelie of Lewisville received the most write-in votes and will serve as the 1st Alternate. The remaining two alternate positions were determined by lot. Norma Reed of Lewisville will serve as 2nd Alternate, and Richard Haglund of Butterfield will serve as 3rd Alternate.

Commodity Loans Available:

Commodity loans, also referred to as Marketing Assistance Loans, are 9-month loans available to producers who share in the risk of producing the crop. To be eligible, producers must maintain continual beneficial interest in the crop from harvest through the earlier of the date the loan is repaid or CCC takes title to the commodity. MAL's can save farmers a considerable amount of money for short-term credit needs. The interest rate for loans obtained in December 2012 is 1.125%.

Page 2 of 2 - If a producer has liens filed against their crops, a lien waiver will need to be on file in our office. The lien waiver gives the lien holder (typically a bank or landlord) the opportunity to designate whether the loan proceeds will be issued to the producer (direct deposit), or jointly between the producer and the lien holder (physical check).

Please be aware when making year-end tax decisions that FSA offices no longer issue payments by check on-site. Since December 2009, all CCC payments are issued by the U.S. Treasury. Loans issued directly to the producer are transmitted using Direct Deposit and typically 2 to 3 business days to reach the producer's bank account. Payments by check will be mailed to the producer by the U.S. Treasury and can take up to 7 to 10 business days to arrive at the producer's mailing address.

Maintaining the Quality of Loaned Grain:

Bins are ideally designed to hold a level volume of grain. When bins are overfilled and grain is heaped up, airflow is hindered and the chance of spoilage increases.

Producers who take out marketing assistance loans and use the farm-stored grain as collateral should remember that they are responsible for maintaining the quality of the grain through the term of the loan.

Guaranteed Loan Limit:

The Farm Service Agency has announced that the loan limit for the Guaranteed Loan Program is currently $1,302,000. The limit is adjusted annually based on data compiled by the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

The lending limit increases every year according to an inflation index. The maximum combined guaranteed and direct farm loan indebtedness has increased to $1,602,000.

As a reminder, the one-time loan origination fee charged on FSA guaranteed farm ownership and operating loans is 1.5 percent of the guaranteed portion of the loan.